Trying to recognize a false gospel isn’t hard if you know what to look for. Have you come to conclude that the gospel you were raised in is false? That’s what happened to me.  

I attended Seventh-day Adventist schools from the fourth grade through seminary. I never took a job that conflicted with Sabbath observance. Growing up I had Sabbath toys that I didn’t play with during the week. I followed the Levitical dietary laws, didn’t drink, smoke, do drugs, wear a necklace or a wedding ring. I certainly never watched TV or went to movies on the Sabbath and no one ever caught me dancing!

The SDAs preached the gospel of Jesus Christ as preached by the apostles except for one simple thing: they added to it, a lot!

SDAs consistently preach, teach and support their fundamental beliefs. This teaching happens from the pulpit, in Sabbath school, evangelistic services and private schooling. Being a fifth generation SDA and marrying inside the SDA world rooted me firmly in the tenants of Adventism.

When I was at Andrews University (SDA), a major fault line appeared to me regarding the denomination. I would say 80 percent of my training was orthodox, but the other 20 percent was Ellen G. White (EGW) indoctrination and denominational distinctives. One day Dr. Baldwin was laying out the impetus for God’s end time church to have a prophetic voice. Naturally we knew he was talking about EGW, since nearly all of us grew up referring to her as “the spirit of prophecy.” But when he put Revelation 19:10, “…For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” on the board, underlined those words, and told us the text was pointing directly to Ellen White; there was an audible gasp in the room. I felt sick, and I wasn’t the only one.

At least four of my classmates took what credits they could and transferred to other seminaries. My buddy Randy Croft, whom I highly respected, became a military chaplain.

As for me, I pulled a Nicodemus. I was part of the privileged class of seminarians: the sponsored. I was hired by a local conference in my last year as an undergrad and sent to seminary on a full ride plus stipend. I could not walk away. I filed the experience away to be fleshed out later, held on to my call to ministry, put my head down and got to work.

My formal ministry began in the heart of Georgia near the buckle-of-the-Bible-belt worn by Baptists. I met a man who started coming to our church who had cancer. He wanted to become a member, but he couldn’t because he was a smoker.  SDA church members can’t smoke, drink alcohol or eat unclean food.  

Then one day he had a heart attack and bi-pass surgery. He was going to be on oxygen for the rest of his life and was allowed to go home. Not knowing how long his health would allow him to get into a baptistry, we scheduled a Wednesday night baptism at the church. We had a great turn out. I baptized him, added the number to my baptism count and he passed away two weeks later.

At that time, it felt like life was good. But that legalistic baptism stayed in the back of my mind like a tiny pebble in my shoe. Eventually I started to hear my own voice in my head asking one question and making one statement.

The Question: Why isn’t the Gospel Enough?

The Statement: If Jesus were to walk into my church, he would treat us the same way he treated the pharisees; with contempt.

One Sabbath afternoon, my wife Alice was reading to our children from the Uncle Arthur Bedtime Stories sold at all SDA bookstores. In it was the story of the night the stars fell from heaven indicating that we were living in the last days of Matthew 24. When she got to the stars falling part she asked, “When did the stars fall from heaven again?”

“In 1833!” I said, “and the darkened sun and moon took place in 1780 and was seen all over New England,” I rattled off.

Then Alice said one word; “Really?”

I cleared my throat and got into teacher mode. “Ellen White said it was so in her writings. And you know what happened after that?”

 “Nothing!” I said, going off script.

“The heavens weren’t shaken! Why were there 50 plus years between the events? The dark day was only seen in New England and was not a worldwide event and I’ve never been completely sold on Matthew 24 being about the end times because people are told not to return to their homes. It also instructs us to pray that it doesn’t happen in ‘winter or on the Sabbath.’ Shouldn’t we be meeting Jesus in the air at this point? Why would we be tempted to go back for a jacket? I think Matthew 24 is about the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD,” I ranted, starting to sweat.

My ears were ringing from the shock of my own words. I got a hold of Randy because I felt I was ready to ask him his opinion about Ellen White. He told me to go to a specific website and to let him know my thoughts.

On the site, Bruce Weaver, who graduated seminary five years before me, wrote an article entitled, “The Arrest and Trial of Israel Dammon.” The article explained a “miraculous account” that Ellen White recorded in a personal letter to J.N. Loughboroug in 1874. Weaver read the letter and found that the chaotic events included a trial. If there was a trial, surely some documentation must exist in court records of the day. He was right. Weaver found sworn affidavits of witnesses and pieced together a version of events that differed greatly from Ellen’s.

Alice and I read the article and it happened in the twinkling-of-an-eye: We were done with Ellen G. White! To confirm our convictions, we read every article on the website and quickly became anti-Ellen White experts.

I gave my reaction to Randy and asked him one more question. “How did you let go of the SDA Sabbath teaching?” I couldn’t see myself ever giving that up.

Randy said, “The biggest thing for me was dealing with the law and the covenants. It was a hard journey, but I documented everything, and I would be happy to send you my notes. Also, my church pastor, Clay Peck from Grace Place in Boulder Colorado, used to be an SDA minister and he put his notes on his website as well. He has a lot of research on how Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and the Sabbath, and how under the new covenant the early church started worshiping on Sunday or wherever or whenever they could after the resurrection.”

It took us a good year or so to get up the nerve to study it. But we did, and it was not an easy journey. There are many SDAs who do not believe in Ellen White but keep the faith because of the Sabbath teaching. Now we were officially studying ourselves out of the SDA. What helped us get out was how amazing the Bible read after we had dispensed with Ellen White!

In the back of my head, my fallback religion was always going to be Advent Christian because of the core distinctives on conditional immortality and annihilationism. My only hesitation was that if the Seventh-day Adventist church turned out to be a cult, (which I would later discover to be the case), I would sure like the name of our new church to be as different as possible. Alas, some things are not possible. Advent Christian I am, but I will never refer to myself an “Adventist” for fear of triggering an allergic reaction.    

At that time Alice was working with Robin Pritchett whose husband, Joe, was pastoring the Advent Christian church in Garner. With an invite from Robin, it was decided we would attend. It was more of a step of fear than faith, but we did it. In our minds, if we were wrong, we would receive the ‘mark of the beast!’ But in time, we settled into conviction in our new denomination.

The family reaction was one of shock and awe. There were attempts to bring us back into the fold. Especially from my father. Extended family considered us lost. But after a while, disappointment was replaced with wonder at how I could preach with fire-in-the-belly about the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit and what it meant to be set free from the law. It wasn’t lawlessness, it was Jesus. And the tipping point between the saved and the lost in Revelation is not the Sabbath but the gospel! The answer to everything really is the good news! It just takes some of us a little longer to get there than others. I will now end with a quote from my faithful GPS navigator who likes to announce, “You have arrived!” The voice is right. We are at home…at last.